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You see, Lanny Thompson has been doing things a little bit differently at Wrigley Fields ever since he took over as league president almost two years ago.

“One of the things we like to do is to try and give our games a minor-league type feel,” he said. “We sometimes have give-a-ways — dinner certificates or something like that, or at softball this year we've given away baseball tickets to University of Florida baseball games.

“Sometimes we try to get parents to come out onto the field and do something wacky — a crazy bat race — where they spin around at home plate a couple of times and race to first and third, or something like that,” he added. “So we try to make things fun.”

In addition to all the games and prizes, one could also witness one of several local celebrities such as the University of Florida's assistant men's basketball coach Matt McCall or Sheriff Chris Blair toss out an opening pitch or even find the league's bear mascot, “Cubby,” rummaging through the stands from time to time.

“The T-ball kids really seem to love it because they, you know, see this big bear walking out of the concession stand and the kids all want to run up and give him a hug,” Thompson said.

With his fresh approach to the youth game, Thompson has gained the support of parents and players and has even seen an increase in numbers at the T-ball and rookie levels — a strong sign that his league is headed toward the future he's hoping for.

“We have noticed this year that our younger kids' numbers are starting to grow,” he said. “We have one more T-ball team than we did last year and we have two baseball rookie teams now, where last year we only had one — and that was 100 percent due to kids moving up from T-ball. So the kids coming through the T-ball program are now staying at the park.”

Working in conjunction with North Marion High School's softball coach Rob Blackmer, Wrigley has a new travel softball team in the works, and is also currently assessing options to include travel baseball in its program as well — both steps Thompson has taken in an effort to promote competitiveness and up the overall talent level at his park.

“We haven't started (travel baseball) yet,” he said. “We're still kind of planning and, you know, figuring out what ages we're going to do and stuff like that, but travel ball is definitely in our plans — especially with the facilities we have — we hope to be able to bring some travel ball tournaments out to Wrigley Fields, which would be good for the local community.

“My goal is for Wrigley to be just as popular, just as successful and just as well organized as Highlands and (Scott) Carrigan and Rotary,” he added. “And we're getting there.”

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